Monday, July 4, 2011

Santa Barbara is awesome, part 1

S - 20,000 yards
B - 300.8 miles
R - 41.9 miles

Time - 27.28 hours

If there is a better place to be in June/July than Santa Barbara, CA I would love to be there, because I cannot possibly imagine it. It has been a so-called "warm" 75-80 degrees in the afternoons around here and with that temperature plus no humidity it's hard to even put into words how welcome a change from Charlotte that has been this week! Pools that are outdoors, riding that is on mountainous and exceptionally scenic roads, and running that is along the Pacific Ocean all adds up to one amazing experience. Well that and staying in a sweet house with some sweet company! Those are all ingredients that add up to a super sweet week of training and hanging...

Despite missing two swim workouts this week I still managed to log 20k yards, which - while not an all time high - is a lot when factored in with all the other stuff. About half the swims this week were meters and the other half were yards and one was a double swim day; something I've never done before. 8300 yards in 12 hours is definitely a "career" high. I was hoping to "compete" in the 3 mile OWS that's part of the Semana Nautica series of races that's going on this week. To count in the race, you can't wear a wetsuit, and when the water is a stated 65 degrees and the last open water swim I logged was at Tri Latta in 88 degree water well, 65 degrees was a bit too much! I tried, admittedly, but couldn't put my head under water without hyperventilating and having a mild panic attack! So I got out and got some breakfast and waited for Moose and the others to finish...

The real good time was logged on the bike this week. My hour totals in the saddle were ~17 hours which, out here in this hilly terrain equaled 300 miles but at home in Charlotte would be closer to 340-350 miles. But while it's fun to chase a mileage number, the real number that matters is the time. I had to do a great deal of riding by myself unfortunately since Moose doesn't usually log 15+ hours/week on the bike (yet) so I had a lot of solo time! Oh well, just makes me mentally tougher!!

I had some good runs this week on some hilly terrain and some flat terrain and saw some amazing sights and ran on an amazing track and amazing and amazing and amazing! Consistency is the name of my game.

A little over a week left here in SB and that's about as far ahead as I care to think right now... Ready, go! Happy 4th of July!